Planet Fútbol Podcast

Each week, Sports Illustrated’s esteemed Planet Fútbol crew discusses the latest spanning the world of soccer, touching on everything from the U.S. national teams to the Champions League to MLS and more.

Each week, Sports Illustrated’s esteemed Planet Fútbol crew discusses the latest spanning the world of soccer, touching on everything from the U.S. national teams to the Champions League to MLS and more.

Each week, Sports Illustrated’s esteemed Planet Fútbol crew discusses the latest spanning the world of soccer, touching on everything from the U.S. national teams to the Champions League to MLS and more.

Episodes

David Neal, whose more than three-decade career in sports television production has included the Olympics, the NBA Finals and the World Series, tells Grant how Fox will be approaching its coverage of World Cup 2018 in Russia. Neal details how he has built relationships in Russia, how he and his staff approach a typical day during the tournament and why there will be more American voices on Fox's broadcasts than we have seen in previous World Cups on other networks.

Grant and Brian discuss Manchester United and José Mourinho, a new addition to our list of bad players on good teams, MLS’s big opportunity this week in Concacaf Champions League and Grant's bold argument that one of the top candidates for the U.S. men’s national team job should be … Bob Bradley.

Two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash joins Grant to explain what he'll be doing with Turner's Champions League coverage and why he's more passionate these days about soccer than basketball. And Sebastian Abbot discusses his new book "The Away Game," which chronicles the largest soccer talent search in history, involving prospects from all over Africa and funding from the Qatari government.

SI's Brian Straus joins Grant to talk about the string of upsets in MLS Week 1, Lionel Messi's genius to sink Atlético Madrid, the big Toronto-Tigres CONCACAF Champions League showdown, the questions surrounding the North American World Cup '26 bid and the decent but not great performance of the USWNT so far in the SheBelieves Cup.

USWNT star Megan Rapinoe joins Grant for a thoughtful conversation on a number of topics, including the SheBelieves Cup, NWSL, how she and power couple partner Sue Bird discuss vision in basketball and soccer, and how Rapinoe looks back on taking a knee as an ally in protest with Colin Kaepernick.

Brian and Grant discuss Man City's defeat of Arsenal in the League Cup final, including asking what drives the psychology of Arsenal's numerous American fans. They also address MLS's season-opening storylines, whether Brian's old friend Neymar should have joined PSG and Grant's thoughts on whether Jill Ellis's job should be questioned after not winning any of the U.S. women's last three tournaments.

In his most detailed public comments since coming out of retirement to play for Mexico's Club León, Landon Donovan describes why he made his decision, his lifelong connection to Mexico and Mexican-Americans, what he's capable of in pure soccer terms these days, how he feels about President Trump's stance on Mexico and his reaction to Carlos Cordeiro winning the U.S. Soccer presidential election.

SI’s Brian Straus is back! He and Grant speak about Brian's vacation to Bolivia (including a Copa Libertadores game), our big-picture thoughts on the US Soccer presidential election and Geoff Cameron’s opinions on the federation in the Players Tribune.

Grant interviews Shaw Brown, the lead producer for Fox Sports' U.S. Soccer and MLS broadcasts, who discusses his more than two decades in the sport, how he got into it and some of his favorite stories from over the years. He also describes what he's looking for when he's directing a soccer broadcast on TV. For anyone interested in breaking into soccer media, this is an especially fun podcast.

Dr Joe Machnik is currently the soccer rules analyst for Fox Sports, but his past goes all the way back to being an All-American goalkeeper at Long Island University, a coach who led LIU at age 23 to the 1966 NCAA title game, who coached ice hockey and mens and women's soccer at the University of New Haven, who was an assistant coach on the U.S. men’s 1990 World Cup team, a referee who worked the 1988 NCAA title game, a FIFA match commissioner, a director of officials for three U.S. pro...

Ahead of Saturday's U.S. Soccer election, Grant interviews Paul Caligiuri, who played in two World Cups and scored one of the most significant goals in U.S. Soccer history to send the Americans to World Cup 1990. Caligiuri explains why he decided to run and how he would like to expand the Olympic Development Program to every high school in the country.

Ahead of the highly contested U.S. Soccer election on February 10, candidate Carlos Cordeiro discusses his travels to state associations around the country, lays out his plan to change the federation and addresses his challenge of being a reform candidate who has been on the board of U.S. Soccer since 2007.

In a two-interview podcast, Brad Rothenberg of Alianza de Fútbol, which discovered Jonathan González, explains why U.S. Soccer lost González to Mexico and why it will keep happening with Mexican-American players if U.S. Soccer doesn't change. Then comedian Jay Baruchel and journalist Eoin O'Callaghan tell the story behind their terrific new documentary film Celtic Soul.

Grant and Brian talk about the long-awaited official announcement of David Beckham’s Miami MLS team; intriguing transfers like Aubameyang to Arsenal and Ibrahimovic to LA Galaxy; the U.S. men’s friendly against Bosnia and the ongoing recriminations over the U.S. losing Jonathan González to Mexico.

Grant is joined by MLS commissioner Don Garber, who discusses a range of topics, including Atlanta's MLS-record purchase of Ezequiel Barco, what's happening with expansion (including with David Beckham's Miami project), the role of Soccer United Marketing in U.S. Soccer and whether he'll pledge to work with whomever wins the U.S. Soccer presidential election.

Grant and Brian hail the trend of MLS teams spending big on rising South American superstars (led by Atlanta and Ezequiel Barco) and discuss the pending Alexis Sánchez/Henrikh Mkhitaryan between Arsenal and Manchester United; the Defiance Tour of Bruce Arena and Sunil Gulati; whether North America’s World Cup ’26 bid is in doubt and the parade of U.S. Soccer presidential candidates in Philadelphia over the weekend.

US Soccer presidential candidate Michael Winograd joins Grant for a wide-ranging conversation in which he talks about his biggest challenge—finding a path to victory—and shares some promising proposals, including building training centers in each state and an "interim" stage to test promotion and relegation in US soccer leagues.

Grant and Brian discuss Liverpool’s pulsating victory over Manchester City to end City’s hopes of an undefeated Premier League season, Landon Donovan’s surprise un-retirement to join Mexico’s León, and this week’s United Soccer Coaches convention in Philadelphia, also known as Tracksuit Woodstock.

The inimitable Ray Hudson of BeIN Sports and SiriusXM joins Grant for a fun conversation on how he developed his love for words, his unique broadcasting style, his appreciation for Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, his favorite stories from the 1970s NASL his love of South American soccer players and fellow Floridian Dick Vitale, and the influence of his father, Wilfred, who passed away last year at 98.

Grant and Brian talk about Jonathan González choosing Mexico over the United States, Eric Lichaj’s blinder to dethrone Arsenal in the FA Cup, the new U.S. January camp roster and what it was like for Brian to attend a Baltimore Blast indoor game over the weekend.

Duration:00:44:39

See More

Sports, music, news and podcasts. Hear the audio that matters most to you.